Grey Glass
by Fanatical Alice
Summary: She'll protect him. Naruto/Hinata


**The idea of this one shot is that Hinata is in a coma as a result of her trying to fight where Naruto couldn't, kind of an AU version of what might have happened after episode 166, if Naruto was being incredibly OOC hahahaha :)**

_a _tHouSanD woRDs

_..._

_A friend is the one who believes in you _

_When you have ceased to_

_Believe in yourself._

...

He stares at the bloated noodles hovering in his bowl.

He stares.

He stares.

The hours tick by.

But time is meaningless.

He likes it when his mind is blank. Turns out, it's really hard to concentrate on absolutely nothing at all, but he gotten the hang of it. And once he's drifting in the gray zone he has absolutely no worries. In his gray zone there are no ebony haired girls with kind smiles. There are no _crunches_ as brains hit cement. In his gray zone there is nothing but _nothing_.

Sadly, the gray zone only sticks around for a couple hours. And then he's back at square one.

He picks up his bowl and sets it in the sink. _Tries_ to. Looks like the sink is already full. Oh well. He puts his bowl back on the table and wanders away from the kitchenette to the window.

How long has it been?

He shakes his head. This isn't right. This isn't _like_ him. He's supposed to be the strong one. The one who pulls through when times get rough. He's the one who his friend's lean on when the world isn't being fair. So why is he sulking in his apartment wallowing in his own guilt? He'd so greatly love to pin the blame on someone else, but there's no one to point at in this dark room but himself.

He looks at his blinking phone. Voice mail. Fifty-six messages to be exact. He doesn't have the energy to go through them all. Everyone should just leave him alone. Stop wasting their time on such a worthless guy.

_Because… I love you, Naruto_.

He doesn't deserve her love. He never did.

_I love you._

Why?

In the end, that is all he can ask.

_WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY._

Why did it have to end like this?

…

Sasuke glared at his phone. The dobe still refused to pick up.

Sakura was looking at him. "He won't answer." It wasn't a question.

He frowned. "Shikamaru and I tried stopping by his place, but he wasn't there."

"Of course he was _there_," his girlfriend scoffed. "He was just ignoring you. Is he seriously this dense? What the fuck does he think he's doing? Doesn't he know that this is affecting all of _us_, to?"

Sasuke had a few ideas. He'd known Naruto his entire life after all, and even though they were pretty much opposite forces of nature, they were still … ugh … _friends_. If Sasuke had to guess, he'd say the fool was blaming himself for what happened to Hinata. He was too ashamed to face his weaknesses. But at the same time it wasn't like Sasuke was going to share his theories with his girlfriend, because he knew that she would shoot them down as soon as the words were out of his mouth. She had one conclusion and one conclusion only – Naruto was being an idiot.

He couldn't exactly argue with that one.

Hell, he couldn't argue with _her_ period.

So he kept his thoughts to himself and planned quietly as Sakura ranted.

….

The banging on his door made him look up.

"Naruto…NARUTO. I know you're in there. Open up!"

He remained glued to the carpet, feeling almost fearful as the insistent fists beat his door.

The banging suddenly stopped and Sasuke's voice came through cool and clear, a crystal threat wrapped in poison. "Naruto, I swear. I have Juugo here with me ready to break down this _fucking_ door if you don't open up _Right. Now._

It's about Hinata."

After days cut off from human contact, Naruto hates himself for opening the door. But it's _her_. _Hinata_. And when it comes to her, he doesn't have a choice.

Sasuke is standing alone in the doorway. Naruto knew Juugo was a bluff. He knew it-

Rock solid knuckles slam into his cheek and Naruto is sent flying back into a stack of CD's. They clatter and snap under his body weight. He spits and jumps to his feet, but Sasuke is already in front of him. He grabs Naruto's shirt collar and shoves him against the wall.

"Listen up, you _dumb fuck_. I could care less if you decide to never leave your fucking apartment ever again. _Fine_. But thanks to you, yeah, _you_- Hinata Hyuga is stuck in a _coma_ and she's _dying_."

Naruto splutters. "Wait- what? They said she was stable! What the FUCK?" It feels surprisingly good to use his voice after all these days of vowing mute.

"How the fuck would you know? It's not like you ever go fucking _see her_. She's in the hospital, _dying_, because you were to much of a chicken shit to fight back!" Sasuke punches him again, making his head snap to the side.

"Shutupshutupshutup!" Naruto yells. He doesn't want to hear this. _It's all my fault_. His heart is racing. _She's dying? That's not right. She's not allowed to die. Nonononono-_

"You think it's all your fault, yeah? IT IS. _It's all your fault _Naruto! So make up for it and go and see her dammit! Fight back!" Sasuke snarls.

"_Beg dammit! Beg for our mercy pussy!" _

_Fight back_

"_~Let's just kill him~"_

_Fight __**back**__. _

"_No! Don't hurt Naruto!"_

_**Fight back.**_

Naruto pushed Sasuke off of him with all the strength he could muster and let his fists fly. They tumbled back in the shadowy apartment, knocking over lamps and unopened textbooks.

They ended up on the floor side by side. Both panting heavily, looking up at the damp ceiling.

Sasuke stuffs his car keys into Naruto's hand.

"Go and see her, dobe."

…..

She is waiting.

For what, exactly, she can't put her finger on it.

She's waiting for _explosions _and _smiles_ and _noise_ and _warmth_, because she is lost in an empty world that chills her to the bone.

Her heart, a steady thud in her chest, is her only companion.

She tries to count the beats but looses track after _5,012. _

She tries to hear the murky blur of voices that float above her, but they are beyond her ears reach.

She is trapped under the ice. A prisoner to her own silence.

There is nothing left for her to do but wait.

"_Hinata!"_

_Him_. He was a boy made of sunshine. His azure eyes were pieces of the sky.

"_HINATA!"_

Her ice splinters into a violent, jagged line that is imperfect and messy. The sudden disturbance shocks her.

"_HINATA!"_

_Open your eyes_, she tells herself. Her ice is a spider web now, an intricate mess of slices and cracks. Her world shakes. A single needle of light unravels that shadows that have blanketed her for so long.

Perhaps this is what she has been waiting for.

_Open your eyes! _

"Hinata! Hinata, can you hear me?"

_I can!_

"Hinata! It's Naruto! HINATA!"

_Naruto._

His name. His voice. His scent. His _fire_.

Her ice shatters into a thousand shimmering diamond shards.

Threads of shadow dissolve into oblivion.

And she is gazing up into a sky of the utmost striking blue.

"Hinata…" the sky gasps. "Hinata Iloveyou."

Yes. Those are the words she's been waiting for.

…..

Sakura has tears streaming down her face, and Sasuke feels vaguely uncomfortable. He can tell that it is taking all of her self-control not to burst into the hospital room they've become so familiar with over the past weeks, and scoop up the pale Hyuga girl being kissed by Naruto. He scowls at the blonde and rubs his swelling eye.

"How did you get him down here?" she asks. Her voice wobbles.

Sasuke allows himself a small smirk. "I told him she was dying."

"…I guess those chick flicks I forced you to watch came in handy, huh?"

He glares half-heartedly at her cheeky grin.

"Hn."

…..

**So I thought – what better way to wrap this up then with Sasuke's famous last words [word] ? Hahaha : ) Thanks for reading! **


End file.
